Contractor Access in 60 Minutes Using Entra Conditional Access

Contractors keep work moving, but their access often becomes a long-term risk.

One project ends, another begins, and suddenly you have accounts that still exist, permissions that never got removed, and a “we’ll clean it up later” list that never shrinks.

This is how ghost accounts happen. Not through bad intent, but through busy calendars.

The goal is simple: grant access quickly, limit it tightly, and revoke it automatically. With Entra Conditional Access, you can build a “self-cleaning” contractor access process in about an hour.

The Financial and Compliance Case for Automated Revocation

Manual offboarding depends on memory, and memory is not a security control.

Dormant contractor accounts are valuable targets because they often:

• Go unnoticed

• Keep permissions longer than needed

• Are not monitored like active staff accounts

A well-known retail breach from the last decade started with third-party credentials and expanded because vendor access was broader than necessary. The lesson still applies: contractor access must be least privilege, time-bound, and easy to shut off immediately.

Automated revocation reduces your attack surface and supports audit readiness by showing consistent access controls and enforcement.

Step 1: Create a Dedicated Contractor Security Group

Instead of managing contractors one-off, centralize control.

Create a group such as:

• External-Contractors

• Temp-Access

• Project-Vendors

This group becomes your on/off switch:

• Add contractor when they start

• Remove contractor when they finish

Everything else becomes policy-driven and repeatable.

Step 2: Require Strong Sign-In Controls for Contractors

Create a Conditional Access policy assigned to your contractor group and require:

• Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA)

• Risk-appropriate sign-in controls (based on your environment)

This prevents a simple password compromise from becoming a full-access incident.

Step 3: Set a Session Control That Forces Re-Authentication

Contractors should not have open-ended access.

In your policy, configure a sign-in frequency aligned to contract duration or project needs. The practical value is big:

• If a contractor is removed from the group, they cannot continue authenticating

• Sessions do not live forever

• “Forgotten access” becomes harder to exploit

This is how you stop access from lingering quietly in the background.

Step 4: Limit Contractors to Only the Apps They Need

A contractor does not need your entire ecosystem.

Create a second Conditional Access policy for the contractor group:

• Allow only approved applications required for their role

• Block everything else by default

This keeps their access narrow and dramatically reduces blast radius if credentials are misused.

Step 5: Add Extra Proof When It Matters Most

If your environment supports it, layer stronger requirements for higher-risk activity, such as:

• More secure authentication methods

• Device posture controls where appropriate

• Tighter rules for admin portals or sensitive resources

The goal is not to make work painful. The goal is to make account misuse difficult.

Step 6: Watch the System Do the Work for You

Once these controls are in place, contractor access becomes predictable:

• Add contractor to the group, access turns on with guardrails

• Remove contractor from the group, access turns off immediately

No chasing tickets. No sticky notes. No “we’ll remember later.”

Take Back Control of Contractor Access

Contractors do not have to be a security gamble. With a small amount of setup, you can build a clean, repeatable process that protects your business and makes your IT workload lighter.

Call us today at (407) 995-6766 or CLICK HERE to schedule your free discovery call.